Published by: Dan Hilliard<>
4 Mar 2025 @ 21:13 UTC

US steel plate pricing experienced another upward push on Tuesday March 4 as buyers attempt to get ahead of tariff-related mill hikes.
But some sources are questioning the longevity of the price spike, particularly given the instability of underlying demand.
Fastmarkets’ weekly assessment for steel cut-to-length plate carbon grade, fob mill US was $60 per hundredweight ($1,200 per short ton) on Tuesday March 4, up 13.21% from the previous assessment of $53 per cwt on February 25.
Inputs were collected in a range between $55-62 per cwt, representing offers and assessments of the general market.
Plate has seen a meteoric rise over the last several weeks, driven by a spate of mill increases. The most recent increase letter from Nucor on February 24 pushed plate up $8 cwt ($160 per ton). The letter simultaneously announced that the company’s April books are now open.
Plate is another matter; prices have gone out of sight in the last 30 days and more raises [are] on the way, one distributor said. The domestic mills are difficult to deal with and lead times are at least 30-45 days.
A second distributor voiced his frustration with trying to keep pace with such a rapidly moving market.
The market is crazy, they said. Not sure where this is going to end up.
The March 4 tariffs levied on Mexico and Canada — and the threatened reciprocal tariffs by the leaders of those countries — are further complicating a market already baking in expected 232 tariffs on the world more generally, slated for March 12.
Here is the central issue that I see with the tariffs, a third distributor in the US said. We supply a lot of plate into Mexico for heavy equipment. Nucor Tuscaloosa and SSAB Mobile have been putting a lot of plate across the border since AHMSA shuttered years ago.
They continued: While it will create a bump in the short term, will it cause Mexico to import more plate from Southeast Asia and the EU, and ultimately cause an oversupply in the US by summer?
Yet another distributor pointed to the uncertainty surrounding the tariffs, such as whether the current 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico will stack with the planned 232 tariffs on March 12, as a reason not to risk buying more than absolutely necessary.
“Very difficult time and too much uncertainty right now to make good decisions,” the fourth distributor said.
The lack of underlying demand while steel prices soar on tariff is concerning, a structural steel contractor said.
“Domestic producers are definitely pushing up pricing on plate (and HSS). However, we are not seeing the kind of parallel demand spike that we saw with the last round of tariffs when it was coupled with massive infrastructure and stimulus spending,” the contractor said. “In this cycle, projects and developers that rely on federal funding (either directly or indirectly, like hospitals, universities, EV ecosystem projects, etc.) are waiting to see if money is actually going to flow before starting new construction. So, while tariffs affect supply, the long-term trajectory of the increases is not yet clear.”
A plate-only buyer, meanwhile, said some end-users are being forced to choose between paying too much for steel and not having enough to cover prior commitments.
“We have seen some customers rushing to buy steel for projects that they committed to last year but didn’t cover the steel for. They are now in a bad situation,” the buyer said. “At the same time, I understand that it’s hard for buyers to justify the prices. It’s a replay of 2017. Keeping that in mind, it is critical that buyers place orders now. Prices are going to go up another several hundred dollars. The only question is if they hit $1,500 per ton or $1,800 per ton before it gets too expensive for the market to bear.”